Orbit
Problem Statement
“How can we help individuals to break out of their filter bubbles?”
The issue of filter bubbles—where people are trapped in echo chambers of information curated by algorithms—
remains a significant problem, limiting exposure to diverse viewpoints and information.
Our Solution
Give individuals opportunities to recognize their engagement habits via data visualizations and discover new content outside of their own filter bubble.
Data Visualizations
The idea of orbits came up as we explored how to visually represent the concept of filter bubbles. Just like how users are stuck in content created by their algorithms, orbits show the paths we follow in what we consume.
By introducing the orbit as a key visual element, we aim to create a unique point for the interface. Representing topics and content through orbits makes user engagement more tangible, visually illustrating consumption patterns in a way that is both intuitive and impactful.
The Logic Behind Data Visualizations
Each orbit represents a topic, meaning that the number of topics a user engages with will be reflected by adding or removing orbits from the main visual.
The size of the orbits indicates the user’s consumption of a specific topic over time. The more a user engages with a topic, the larger the orbit becomes. Conversely, less engagement results in a smaller orbit.
Each topic includes various keywords for users to explore and engage with. The tilt of the orbits reflects the variety in the user’s consumption of that particular topic. The more keywords a user engages with, the more tilted the orbit becomes.
Main Features
‘Home’ page shows the user’s own orbit, created based on their content consumption.
By allowing users to easily and intuitively view the transition of their content consumption over 72 hours through drag interaction, they can better understand their habits and discover new patterns in their media use.
By providing two different views—interactive and flat—these roles work together, allowing users to understand and utilize the data from multiple perspectives.
On the ‘Keywords’ page, users can explore a variety of keywords related to topics outside of their own content consumption.
By using ‘circular scroll’ as a key visual, I aimed to maintain a consistent tone and manner that aligns with the orbit concept.
On the ‘Explore’ page, the 10 topics dynamically reorder themselves from the least consumed to the most consumed based on the user’s content consumption.
This allows users to intuitively see which topics they are neglecting the most, while also increasing accessibility to those topics.
On the ‘Report’ page, users can see their weekly and monthly reports of content consumption.
As their weekly and monthly orbits accumulate, it will motivate users to create more diverse orbits.
On the ‘Profile’ page, users can check the keywords they saved while exploring the ‘Keywords’ page.
Additionally, they can easily toggle which platforms’ data they want to track on and off.